Human Factors Archives - Page 11 of 19 - Situational Awareness Matters!™

Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes – Guest Post

5 Comments / Article, Building Construction, Decision Making, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress / Rich Gasaway

Firefighter-Paramedic Ryan Pennington with the Charleston (WV) Fire Department has been conducting extensive research on the epidemic problem of emergencies in hoarder homes. Emergencies including everything from fires to EMS calls to animal hoarding issues – the whole gamut. Ryan has also developed a knock-out program on hoarder home fires. If your jurisdiction is having […]

Situational Awareness in Hoarder Homes – Guest Post Read More »

Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness

6 Comments / Article, Communications, Complacency, Culture, Decision Making, Gasaway Consulting Group, Human Factors, Incompetence, Information overload, Safety, Situational awareness, Situational Readiness, Size Up, Staffing, Stress, Teamwork, Training, Workload Management / Rich Gasaway

Ho, Ho, Ho. Merry Christmas everyone! With Thanksgiving day in the past, it is officially the Christmas season! I know everyone’s feeling particularly festive this time of year and I have caught the Christmas spirit in a very situational awareness sort of way. Surely you’ve heard of the “Twelve Days of Christmas.” -You know –

Twelve Ways to Situational Awareness Read More »

Mission Myopia: A situational awareness barrier

2 Comments / Article, Attention Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Ego, Human Factors, Meta Awareness, Multitasking, Risk Assessment, Safety, Size Up, Task Saturation, Tunneled Senses / Rich Gasaway

The primary mission in all emergency situations is to save lives and property. In some agencies when a new member is inducted into the organization they take an oath of office that includes pledging their commitment to this mission. The mission is an important – even noble – calling. But what happens when a responder

Mission Myopia: A situational awareness barrier Read More »

Episode 234 | The Dirty Dozen – Killer Situational Awareness Barriers

Leave a Comment / Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Complacency, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Gut Feeling, Habits, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Long-Term Memory, Meta Awareness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Pressure, Radios, Repetition, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Under Confident, understaffing, Vigilance, Workload Management, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

This episode discusses some of the most challenging barriers to situational awareness while working in high-risk, high-consequence environments. This is part 2 so if you missed part 1 – Episode 233 – be sure to check it out first and that will help you understand the challenges we are going to discuss here. Length: 36

Episode 234 | The Dirty Dozen – Killer Situational Awareness Barriers Read More »

Episode 233 | The Process for Developing Situational Awareness

Leave a Comment / Auditory exclusion, Cognitive Memory, Communications, Complacency, Confabulation, Confusion, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Gut Feeling, Habits, Hallucinations, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Information overload, Intuition, Judgment, Long-Term Memory, Meta Awareness, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Multitasking, Muscle Memory, Overload, Overwhelm, Perception, Perception Of Reality, Prediction, Pressure, Radios, Repetition, Risk Assessment, Routines, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Selective Listening, Sensory Conflict, Shared Mental Models, Short Term Memory, Situational awareness, Size Up, Stress, Tacit Knowledge, Task Fixation, Tunnel Vision, Tunneled Senses, Under Confident, Vigilance, Workload Management, Worksheets / Rich Gasaway

The episode discusses the process for developing and maintaining situational awareness. We will discuss the foundation, walls and roof of the SA development process. This is part 1 of a 2-part episode. Length: 36 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

Episode 233 | The Process for Developing Situational Awareness Read More »

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 7: The Superman/Superwoman

Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Safety, Situational awareness / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to installment seven of the Nine Dangerous Mindsets series. While these mindsets may have many dangerous implications, my focus is to bring light to how they can impact situational awareness and team safety. I have been receiving some amazing feedback so far on this series. Readers are sharing that I have struck a chord,

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 7: The Superman/Superwoman Read More »

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 6: The Silent

1 Comment / Article, Communications, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to part six of this nine-part series on dangerous mindsets that can impact situational awareness. I appreciate all of the very kind feedback I have been receiving on this series on Facebook, Twitter and by email. Your positive feedback energizes me so much. Thank you. In this segment we’re going to discuss the Silent member.

Nine Dangerous Mindsets – Part 6: The Silent Read More »

Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 4 – The Superior

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Article, Crew Resource Management, Culture, Decision Making, Ego, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Human Behavior, Human Factors, Leadership, Mental Models, Safety, Situational awareness, Stress, Teamwork / Rich Gasaway

Welcome to the fourth installment of the Dangerous Mindsets series. Previously I talked about the dangerous mindsets of the Starter, the Subordinate and the Specialist. This article addresses the Superior or, more appropriately, the Superior with personal issues and how that can impact situational awareness and team safety. It would be rare for a supervisor

Nine Dangerous Mindsets: Part 4 – The Superior Read More »

Episode 228 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 2

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Staffing, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part two of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. Length: 61 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are interested in taking

Episode 228 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 2 Read More »

Episode 227 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 1

Leave a Comment / Accountability, Assumptions, Attention Management, Automatic Action, Benchmarks, Building Construction, Close Call, Communications, Confusion, Crew Resource Management, Decision Making, Disoriented, Distractions and Interruptions, Emotions, Excited, Expectations, Experience, Fear, Firefighter Situational Awareness, Goals, Gut Feeling, Habits, Human Behavior, Human Error, Human Factors, Hyper Vigilance, Intuition, Mayday, Mayday and RIT, Miscommunications, Mission, Mission Myopia, Muscle Memory, Near Miss, Neuroscience, Over Staffing, Perception Of Reality, Personal Protective Equipment, Personnel location, Physical Fitness, Pre Arrival Lens, Prediction, Preoccupation, Progress Reports, Radios, Risk, Risk Assessment, Safety, SAMatters Radio, Shared Mental Models, Size Up, Staffing, Standard Operating Procedures/Guidelines, Stress, Task Fixation, Teamwork, Time Distortion, Training / Rich Gasaway

This episode is part one of a two-part interview with Perry Hall, a firefighter who shared his story of a horrific near-miss event and the life-changing impact it has had on him. Length: 72 minutes Click the YouTube icon to watch the full VIDEO __________________________________________________ If you are

Episode 227 | Perry Hall Interview – Part 1 Read More »